The Fireman

Thanks for the compliments we're looking forward to our next outing in a couple of weeks. The interior still needs some moldings around the edges but the 1x12 ship lap pine gives it a nice warm feel, and no need to worry about the big bad wolf we have a mack bulldog inside as well.

Thanks the new rear end ratio is about perfect for my needs, a good top end and still enough gear to pull the hills around here with no problem. Someday if I stumble onto a R modle rollback and I have the cash on hand at the time we might add a few more feet onto the tiny house for a bathroom and a small kitchen but for now since I have to lift it with the backhoe a dry room to sleep in is perfect. Not to mention the truck fits just about anywhere a crew cab pickup does , just have to work a little harder turning the wheel. I'm also happy to report that the mack is back in the dog house after spending a few weeks outside while the floor cured. Poured 44 yards of concrete in there a couple weeks ago and finally got most of my toys back inside. Been a long time coming but so worth the wait

Every year our family does a family reunion weekend at a state park, last year was the first time my wife and I camped for the weekend. I've spent plenty of nights in a tent over the years hiking and backpacking but it was a new experience for Jen and our pup...all 90 pounds of newfoundland. To say we were a bit cramped would be an understatement especially once the rain started Lilah ended up sleeping on top of Jen and I. So after a long winter of thinking and a little building we came up with out tiny house complete with a Bulldog on the hood. The tiny house is complete with recessed lighting, a bed, shelving and best of all a place for our pup to call her own. I bought the lumber from my buddy at the sawmill and proceeded to run it through my planer to make the siding, as an added bonus this works well as advertisement for my business lol. After everything was processed and the interior boards ship lapped we began building in the barn over the winter. I must have measured everything a dozen times to make sure I would be less than 13'6" tall....after all of it was said and done it came out at 12'5" sitting on the truck. The backhoe picks it just fine and the old mack hauls it down the road and doesn't break a sweat, I only had to down shift out of overdrive for one hill on our first trip. Lots of fun had by all and we got a lot of attention at the camp ground, looking forward to our family reunion (the rest of the tent dwellers are already getting jealous lol)and other upcoming trips this summer.

Looking good, when I rewired my B I used a fork truck fuse panel that I salvaged out of a hyster 120xm that we were scraping at work. Gave me plenty of circuits and I have relays controlling all of the high draw stuff so my old factory switches aren't going to be overloaded. Was a bit of work to plan it all out and install but well worth it in the long run, I also set it up so that everything except the signal lights shut off with the key.

I ended up with new double coins on the front, the guy at the tire shop told me they sell a lot of them and I didn't see anything out of the ordinary when I put them on. Fingers crossed that my ride will improve the old bias plys had quite the thump to them until they warmed up enough to round out.

Yeah I was a bit nervous when I picked up the phone to call for the quote but we're planning on using the truck to carry our newly built truck camer this summer (pics to come once I get it finished up and setting on the truck) along with hauling the siding that I make. If it were just going to be used for the business I might have looked into used tires but since I'll have my wife and the dog with me when we go camping I knew I needed to have something I could count on. On the plus side when I had the front end up I was able to verify that the tie rods, king pins and all of the other steering related items were nice and tight so I feel a lot better about loading the family up and heading off with the old girl at this point.

After saving my pennies over the winter I finally took the plunge and ordered up 6 new tires for my B42. The originals were dry rotted pretty good and I didnt want to take a chance on blowing one this summer as we're planning on using the truck quite a bit more than we did last year. So I went ahead and ordered 4 retread drives and 2 new steers on tubeless rims...no more bias ply and split rims for this guy, I was pleasently surprised when the pricing came back at less than 3000. Spent the last 2 days getting them mounted onto the truck, I would have been done a lot sooner but when I got the old tires off the drivers side rear I found a stripped hole in the hub. At some point some one must have gotten a bit over excited and pulled all but a couple threads out of the hole leaving me with nothing to work with. They had replaced the stud with a piece of all thread and some how managed to get the nut tightened up but there was no way I was going to leave it like that. Fortunatly for me last fall Hobert69 was kind enough to sell me a complete rear axle when I was looking for a faster diff so I set to work swapping out the hub yesterday and managed to get it all buttoned back up today. I must say they do look a whole lot nicer than the old tires did, cant wait for the roads to get the last of the salt rinsed off so I can take her out for a spin.

Thanks, I think the only thing that saved the whole rear end was the fact that its a double reduction so the teeth werent facing the broken stub to throw it around it just kinda rolled around in the bottom...still scary to think that I've driven her a couple hundred miles like that over the 4 years that I've had the truck, makes me wonder about the engine and trans but those are a project for a later date. I'm considering in a few years buying an engine and trans, rebuilding them and installing it in the truck but time will tell on that one. for the foreseeable future I'm going to run what I've got with some new tires in the spring and just have fun.

I just finished swaping the rear in my B42 this week, I went from a 7.85 (35mph) to 4.60 I've only had her out once since the swap but I pushed to 61-62 and still had a lot of room to climb before reaching the govener. I had the good fortune to find a mack rear end out of a B67 here on the forum and after a little research here we were able to determain that my axle housing would hold the hogshead from the other axle so I just swaped that and had the drive shaft shortened to fit. Your top speed will also depend on whether you have an overdrive transmission or not. I've got a 10 speed duplex with over drive when I'm in 4 hi which is direct I top out at 55 on 22" rubber. My posts from this whole swap are here in the antique section and are with in the last 2 months.

Once I get the new tires on her I dont see any reason why I wouldnt be able to make a longer road trip with the old girl, the steering is surprisingly tight for an old truck, I'm not gonna lie I was a bit nervous as I pushed past 45mph and on towards 60 I kept expecting some wobble or drifting but she tracks straight as an arrow so I'm quite happy with that.

had a sucsesful test drive today after picking up the driveshaft this morning, this truck is an absolute blast to drive now. Had it up to 62 and she still had more to go. I even managed to split a few gears, with the low gears I had I just left the aux in high but now starting off in low and working up through was much more enjoyable. Some new tires next spring and I'll have myself a lumber hauler that will turn some heads and keep up with traffic.

I hear ya there I was shocked to find the broken axle in there, as to the drive shaft I'm not to concerend there as the splines start 5" after a section with no splines, the seal on the end prevents the splines from sliping out when I measured it so I'll still have 2-2.5" of traven before the splines are at the seal, as stiff as the old girl is I doubt it will ever move much more than an inch in either direction. the bigest load I've had on her yet only squated the springs 1/2"

I think so that seemed to be the only difference but when I got under there im nont so sure the driveshaft wasnt to long to begin with as I only had an inch of travel on the slide. by taking 4" out that will give me 3" of travel once its all coupled together so much more room for the susspension to travel. It will also still fit if I had to go back to the other rear end for some reason down the road since the drive shaft has 5" of slide on the slip yoke. I know I'm looking forward to going for a spin monday with her.

Thanks to Hobert62 I was able to get the rear end swaped out in my B42 sooner than I expected, whe robert ofered up an axle if I could get it before winter I couldnt say no. I spent yesterday swaping the hogs heads over geting rid of my 7.85's in favor of a set of 4.60's. When I drained the oil out of the new rear end I found a brokemn bolt laying in the bottom of the housing, after close examination it looks like a left over from a previous failure and since everything looks and feals good I was full steam ahead for the swap. I used my cherry picker in combination with my lift to get my old hogshead out of the truck. fortunatly my deck boards shrunk enough to get a strap between them so I could lower it on to the waiting lift then swing it out from under the truck. Now ive been driving this truck all summer, something like 100-200 miles not much I know but when I found the entire end of a broken axle laying in the housing against the ring gear I was shocked to say the least. I cant believe this didnt get caught up in the gears and leave me stranded on the side of the road with 5 gallons of gear oil all over the place guess its a good thing I tore it down now I know its cleaned out good. At any rate after a good cleaning and a little work I got the new gears in and the axle filled back up, the only hickup I had was the drive shaft needed to be shortened 4 inches, droped that off at the shop this morning and will be back on the road monday. Thank you to everyone who helped me figure lout that the diff would fit and a big thank you to Hobert, I really appriciate your offer of the axle out of your B67.

I just checked and I have the centering cones under my axle and I have 7" brakes (that are new too) so I would say I have the heavy housing in my truck so if I understand everything I've read correctly the hogshead above will work in my housing. I sent you an email Hobert thanks again for everything.

I'll pull one of the axle nuts of my truck when I get home to check for the cones. I'll also measure my brakes.

Ok so the botom number on the hogs head is the ratio, learned something new today. thats good news as 4.60 would be perfect for what I'm doing. I'll have to check my housing to see if the series is the same otherwise I might have to swap the housing and all. Thanks for the info you guys are a wealth of knowledge.

Thanks for posting, I'm the guy working on the swap into my 1963 B42. right now I still have the gas job rear end with what I believe are 7.85's. The truck has a 673P with either a TRDL 720 or TRDL 7220 I know its one or the other but for the life of me I cant remember right now and its a bit wet right now to go crawl under the truck to verify. Shes on 22" rubber, I'm going to put on some new 24.5's in the spring so tire size will stay the same. With my currant set up I top out around 40 or so, I'd like to get to 55-60 but I would settle for 50-55 as the truck wont be seeing the interstate.

My facebook page just popped up with this pic from the past, evidently 3 years ago I was cutting fire wood and loading the unpainted dump truck on september 12th, how time flys. Now the trucks on the road looking a whole lot nicer than it did with the old green paint (the pic doesnt show it but the fenders had quite a bit of rust going on and had been painted several times) and the backhoe has been sold and upgraded to a 4x4 310SG. Thought I'd share a before pic, I used the dump box quite a bit around the house but as our house has been completed my use for a dump truck has dropped way off, but I still have the box high and dry just in case I need to put it back on someday.

PM sent hobert. I know every time I have the old girl out on the road I get a lot of waves and thumbs up from people on the road. it certainly is an attention getter.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to a set of radial tires, the old bias plys are a bit on the square side until they warm up a bit then it rides surprisingly good. It will definitly be getting some paint on the bed this fall/winter whan I get some free time also going to mount a tool box under the bed for my ratchet straps and what not, not much room in the cab for that stuff.

Thanks for the kind words, took quite a bit to get her looking good again, I spent a few months a couple years ago painting her up. Not a show quality paint job by any means but I'm happy with how it turned out makes her look respectable going down the road delivering stuff. I also rewired everything this year while I had the box off....figured smelling smoke when the lights were on was a good reason to take on that job. Ran everything through relays so my old switches aren't loaded with a lot of currant draw. Was almost as big a project as building the bed but I feel a lot better going down the road knowing all my lights are going to work when I pull the switch...or step on the brakes. Still a work in progress but at least it's to the point that I can take her out and enjoy it while I work on it.

She started off as a dump truck that I bought 4 years ago from dennis at oldmacks.com, after using her around the house for a few years and even....considered selling her briefly I decided to pull the box and build a flat bed for her. That time came in june when I sold my 2013 chevy flatbed, making payments on a truck that just sat didnt make any sense to me and since I already owned the Mack and all the materials for the bed it seemed to be a no brainer. A month later and I had her ready for the road, I've been having a blast ever since delivering lumber for my small planning operation and hauling firewood for winter. Just got her washed and waxed today, hauled 3 tons of wood pellets for my brother in the morning and deliverd a small load of sidding this evening. Shes been converted to a 673 with a TRDL 7220....coupled to a 7.85 rear end, needless to say shes a bit slow. Come spring I'm going to put on a new set of radials and if I can find a rearend in the low 5's high 4's range a rear end swap to get me down the road at 65 or so...any thing would be an imrovement over the 40-45 that I top out at now. But for now I'm having fun just enjoying the ride. Hopeully the pic attaches

Thanks guys this was the info I was looking for...now I know what to look for any way. Definitely want the right tires and rims no fun getting hurt that's why I want to get rid of the tires I have they're alright for around the yard but have some pretty good checking on them so I'm not real comfortable taking them down the road.

Got daytons onthe old girl, guess I'll be talking to my tire guy to have them keep their eyes open for a good set of used tires and rims definitely don't want anyone getting hurt. Thanks for the info